REGIONAL GROUPS

by Suzanne Clancy

New York

In June, the Science Writers in New York (SWINY) enjoyed a humorous presentation by Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and coordinator of the Ig Nobel Prizes. Marc regaled the audience with examples of funny science from the Annals as well as tales of high jinks from the annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony.

Then it was beyond boulders and bedrock as geologist Sidney S. Horenstein led SWINY members on a geological tour of Central Park in July. Horenstein is coordinator of environmental programs at the American Museum of Natural History, where he has created a variety of exhibits during his 40-year career. Sidney entertainingly revealed the ancient history of the region through the geological evidence visible today: a scar running down the Bronx River where continents crashed together, glacial rubble that helped form Long Island, and an ancient lake that once spilled over the Verrazano Narrows.

In August, the focus was back to business as SWINY members learned about the contentious world of contracts from Norman Schreiber, American Society of Journalists and Authors copyright committee member and former ASJA contracts VP. Norman shared views of the intellectual-property battleground from both the freelancer and staff viewpoints and offered comments on contracts for members.

Washington, D.C.

DCSWA went to summer camp for a weekend in July. Rick Borchelt and Merry Bruns led the troops to Morgantown, W.Va., where they visited the National Energy Technology Lab and West Virginia University's arboretum, learned about folk medicine, and fit in some hiking and bird-watching.

October's event focused on the literary craft of science writing, using devices of fiction to explain facts. Authors James Trefil, Mitchell Waldrop, and Ann Finkbeiner discussed techniques such as interior monologues and the use of reconstructed scenes to advance a narrative.

In November, with war and terrorism much in the news, DCSWA brought together a panel of experts to explore reporting on these subjects during a time of crisis. More than 100 people attended the wide-ranging program and heard from Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Margaret Hamburg, of the Nuclear Threat Initiative; Brian Kelly, of U.S. News and World Report; Chris Joyce, of National Public Radio; Michael Osterholm, of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy; David Franz, formerly of the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (now with the Southern Research Institute): and Ronald Atlas, president-elect of the American Society for Microbiology.

Northern California

The past year has been a busy one for NCSWA. The group put together an electroluminescent, fire-eating party for visiting science writers during last February's AAAS meeting in San Francisco. In June, they met for dinner at a microbrewery in Berkeley to hear Cynthia Kenyon, from U.C. San Francisco, talk about her work on doubling the lifespan of the nematode C. elegans. Because of the similarity of the system that regulates aging in the worm to those found in higher life forms, Kenyon suggests that human aging may one day be slowed and lifespan extended through hormonal therapies.

Attendees at a September dinner listened to a fascinating discussion of stem cells by pioneering Stanford researcher Irving Weissman while feasting on Afghan cuisine (scheduled long in advance of the Sept. 11 events). Weissman, whose lab was among the first to isolate stem cells from any tissue in any species, helped NCSWAns separate stem-cell fact from fiction in his timely talk.

In November, NCSWA sponsored its first workshop on careers in science writing for journalism and science students and those just starting out in the field (see accompanying story).

Throughout the year, NCSWAns enjoyed several special field trips. Members had a tour of the U.C. Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, including a talk by researcher Terrie Williams about her work with sea mammals, and a behind-the-scenes introduction to the two ex-Navy dolphins with whom she works. The group toured the Menlo Park offices of the U.S. Geological Survey, where members heard about earthquake detection, and visited the paleomagnetism lab that is now a national historic site for its role in confirming the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. NCSWA also organized a tour of Filoli Gardens, a huge estate in Woodside, south of San Francisco, where hundreds of rare flowers, plants, and trees flourish.

Georgia Area

On Oct. 9, a dozen members of the Georgia Area Science Writers Association (GASWA) took a virtual trip to California's historic Mount Wilson to examine the workings of the six-telescope array constructed there by Georgia State University. From a control room on the Georgia State campus in downtown Atlanta, they opened a telescope housing on Mount Wilson and received data through a secure Internet link from the CHARA array.

The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) uses six one-meter mirrors in separate housings 200 meters apart to study the universe through interferometric techniques. Director Hal McAlister explained how the array collects light from the different telescopes and combines it to provide information about the surface of stars, measure the diameters and surface temperatures of stars, detect companion orbiting stars, and even measure the masses of binary systems.

#

Suzanne Clancy is science writer at The Salk Institute, in La Jolla, Calif. Send information about regional meetings and events to clancy@salk.edu.